Format overview of Graduate Music History Placement exam
The Graduate Music History Placement examination is taken by all entering graduate students. Its purpose is assessment, not prohibition: on the basis of scores on the Placement examination, students are either (a) cleared to enroll in graduate musicology courses; (b) advised to enroll in MUHL5300: Graduate Music History Review, offered each Spring semester; or (c) required to enroll in MUHL5300. The examination is of 90 minutes duration, and its format will typically include the following:
I. A section on a supplying score excerpt, requiring the student to identify and label its essential formal components (exposition, P and S theme, recap, coda, phrase structure, cadences and cadence types, instrumentation, transpositions, etc);
II. A section of 15 audio excerpts, asking the student to indicate, on the basis of style characteristics, the historical period of composition (or target century). NOTE: the student is not required to identify either the composer or the specific composition--only the time period or target century;
III. A section of 15 score excerpts, asking the student to indicate, on the basis of style characteristics, the historical period of composition (or target century). NOTE: the student is not required to identify either the composer or the specific composition--only the time period or target century;
IV. A section of 15 brief, 1 to 2-sentence identifications of terms (referencing theory, history, form, stylistic schools, etc);
V. A short essay (250-300 words) on a specific assigned topic from music history, typically addressing the interaction of a genre's musical style characteristics and various contextual/cultural/philosophical issues shaping those characteristics.
Format overview of Graduate Music History Placement exam
The Graduate Music History Placement examination is taken by all entering graduate students. Its purpose is assessment, not prohibition: on the basis of scores on the Placement examination, students are either (a) cleared to enroll in graduate musicology courses; (b) advised to enroll in MUHL5300: Graduate Music History Review, offered each Spring semester; or (c) required to enroll in MUHL5300. The examination is of 90 minutes duration, and its format will typically include the following:I. A section on a supplying score excerpt, requiring the student to identify and label its essential formal components (exposition, P and S theme, recap, coda, phrase structure, cadences and cadence types, instrumentation, transpositions, etc);
II. A section of 15 audio excerpts, asking the student to indicate, on the basis of style characteristics, the historical period of composition (or target century). NOTE: the student is not required to identify either the composer or the specific composition--only the time period or target century;
III. A section of 15 score excerpts, asking the student to indicate, on the basis of style characteristics, the historical period of composition (or target century). NOTE: the student is not required to identify either the composer or the specific composition--only the time period or target century;
IV. A section of 15 brief, 1 to 2-sentence identifications of terms (referencing theory, history, form, stylistic schools, etc);
V. A short essay (250-300 words) on a specific assigned topic from music history, typically addressing the interaction of a genre's musical style characteristics and various contextual/cultural/philosophical issues shaping those characteristics.